Electronic devices, such as multimedia devices, may be connected together in a network in order to share data, increase convenience, and make fuller use of each element. For example, certain devices within a home or other similar environment may be connected together. In such an environment, there may be multiple potential sources and users of streaming digital media content for audio, video, gaming, and other uses.
In providing such a network environment, there may be mixture of existing media devices and newer media devices. Such devices will vary in the types of interfaces and connections that available for data. For example, such devices may include interfaces designed for audio/visual data, including High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI®) interfaces (a digital audio/video interface for transmission of data streams), as well as network connections such as Ethernet. HDMI provides for unidirectional transmission of media and related data from a transmitting device to a receiving device, while a network protocol such as Ethernet provides for bidirectional data transmission between devices.